The death of 3-year-old Jyoshitha of Battalavallam village of Varadaiahpalem mandal in the early hours of Monday led to a panic situation in the surrounding areas, followed by an emergency medical camp to tackle the dengue suspect cases and viral fevers.
Adinarayana and Prashanti, the girl’s parents, who work as daily wagers and reside at the dalitwada, decried that though their daughter had been suffering from high temperature since a week and her condition was deteriorating, the staff at the local public health centre in the mandal or the paramedical staff had not referred the case to a competent hospital.
It was only at the eleventh hour on Sunday that the girl was rushed to a hospital in Chennai, where she breathed her last.
The body was brought to the village, leading to a commotion among the villagers who condemned official apathy.
The villagers of Battalavallam, Chinna Pandur and half a dozen villages, reeling under a blanket of viral fevers since a month, said in spite of their repeated appeals for emergency health camps, no senior official had visited their hamlets.
Except for paramedical staff distributing tablets meant for general fevers, no special steps were taken either to collect the blood samples or to follow up the suspect cases.
Though the official figure of dengue cases this year stood at 250 and an equal number of viral fevers, it was estimated that the cases could be more than 2,000 as several patients had reached out to corporate hospitals in Chennai, Bangalore and Vellore, reportedly due to lack of guidance from the government hospital in rural areas. The district also witnessed casualties due to swine flu this year.
The official count remained alarming when the malady stuck the villages of Timmasamudram and Perindesam in KVB Puram mandal. Over 50 cases of dengue positive were reported from the two villages and four casualties occurred in April.
Emergency camps
Though most of the villages in Satyavedu and Varadaiahpalem mandals are located close to the Tada-Chennai national highway, the district medical and health department personnel don’t hold awareness camps on viral fevers and sanitation drive, except when the casualties are reported.
District Malaria Officer P. Srinivasulu said emergency medical camps were set up at vulnerable villages in Varadaiahpalem mandal.
“We need more and more awareness camps on upkeep of sanitation in rural areas. We will prompt such camps through health educators in all mandals,” he said.
